HOCHTIEF welcomes Qatari investment

Published December 8th, 2010 - 10:49 GMT

HOCHTIEF has welcomed Qatar Holding LLC as new major shareholder.

HOCHTIEF has welcomed Qatar Holding LLC as new major shareholder. HOCHTIEF increased the capital stock of the company by around ten percent under exclusion of subscription rights of existing shareholders. After acquiring all new shares, Qatar Holding will - as soon as the capital increase is registered with the commercial register - hold almost 9.1 percent of the new capital stock. The Ad-hoc Committee of the HOCHTIEF Supervisory Board has approved the capital increase. Qatar Holding LLC is the strategic and direct investment arm of Qatar Investment Authority.

The capital increase will be carried out by partly making use of the authorized capital created at the HOCHTIEF General Shareholders' Meeting on May 11, 2010, by issuing 6,999,999 no-par-value shares against cash contributions. According to the resolution of the General Shareholders' Meeting, subscription rights of existing shareholders are excluded. The issue price is EUR 57.114 per share, resulting in an equity contribution of almost EUR 400 million to HOCHTIEF. "The cash inflow from the capital increase strengthens the financial position of HOCHTIEF. In addition, it provides latitude for the announced further growth after the planned bond issue had to be called off in mid-September," said CEO Dr. Herbert Lütkestratkötter.

In April 2010, HOCHTIEF founded a joint venture with Lusail Real Estate Development Company, a subsidiary of Qatari Diar. The current major project of the company is the development of a completely new city in Qatar by 2020, the city of Lusail which is designed for 200,000 inhabitants, and which will host the World Cup Final in 2022. The joint venture is also planning to export design and construction work to other countries.

Both partners have decided to take the historic opportunity and consolidate the existing cooperation by a direct participation in HOCHTIEF: "We welcome Qatar Holding as our new major shareholder. Qatar has recognized the capability of the HOCHTIEF Group, the success of our strategy as well as the benefits of a close partnership. We will now be supporting each other in our development," Lütkestratkötter announces. According to the CEO, Qatar's strong relationship with the German state was a key element of its decision to invest in HOCHTIEF.